Invisible Lines
by thornpixie21
Summary: Rose Weasley is attending Hogwarts in the shadow of her parents infamous history. But problems truly start to arise when she befriends a blonde haired boy, by the name of Scorpius Malfoy. Hogwarts, the year 2021.
1. Chapter 1

The silence in the room was penetrated only by the sound of quills running along parchment, and a boy close to the back of the room sat idly gazing around.

"Five minutes," the droning voice of their professor came from the front of the Great Hall. The boy followed the voice now, and his eyes caught his professor's, who gave him a stern look, which he knew was because he had not written anything for his exam in the last half an hour.

He hated History of Magic, always had, even if his father did feature in one of the main topics. He had heard the story so many times, not so much from his father; he didn't like to mention it. Mainly because he was a coward in those days, and was embarrassed by it now. No, it was mainly from others witches and wizards that still talked about it constantly; the Second Wizarding War was something that was not going to be forgotten soon.

Plus, Professor Binns did not make it exciting. Both of his parents had failed to mention how incredibly boring the ghost teacher was, probably because they knew that he would not attend even a single lesson if they had forewarned him. Well, they would have been right. These days, he attended the lessons for an entirely different reason.

"Please put down your quills," the droning voice of Professor Binns broke through his thoughts, and he glanced quickly down at his exam. He knew he would be lucky to get an 'Acceptable' at best, but he couldn't bring himself to really care. "Please leave quietly; your end of year exam is now over. Except," as he was rising from his seat, the ghostly professor appeared by his desk, "for you, Mr. Malfoy."

He rolled his eyes, and flicked his blonde fringe out of his eyes, before facing his teacher head on, "Yes, Professor Binns?"

"I couldn't help but notice that you finished your exam surprisingly early," Binns was saying, but his attention was elsewhere, on a girl that had just risen from her seat and was making her way gracefully towards the door. "I should warn you that if you fail this exam-"

He cut in, "I know Sir, I know, and I did my best. But right now I've got to go; another exam!" And with that he all but ran after the girl. He reached her just outside the door, and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped slightly, but smiled in a friendly greeting when she turned to face him, "Hey Rose, how did it go?"

She scrunched up her nose and shrugged, "I don't know, Scorpius. I studied so hard, but it was like a curse had been placed on me! Honestly, I didn't even know what I was writing half of the time, and I grew up with that story." She rolled her eyes, "My Dad never stops talking about how awesome my Mum was in that war, but I just couldn't remember the facts. And that question on the goblin rebellions was awful!"

"You will have done fine, Rosie, you always do." He smiled at her, and he felt happier when he saw the smile she sent back in his direction, "So where are you headed now? Maybe I can walk you there?"

She shook her head, and pulled her robes tighter around her as we passed the open door that led out of the entrance hall and into the grounds; "I'm going to Gryffindor tower. Strictly no Slytherin's allowed, remember." She winked at him and then smirked, placing one foot on the bottom stair of the staircase. He laughed, and watched her as she climbed the rest of the stairs. He didn't know exactly where the Gryffindor common room was, or the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff's either, but he knew that the Gryffindor one was upstairs somewhere.

He turned away from the staircase, and then a thought quickly flash through his mind and he spun back around. "Rose!" He yelled, stepping around the stream of students that had arrived on the stairs. She spun round, her wavy red hair whipping around her shoulders in a way that framed the beauty of her face perfectly. Scorpius momentarily forgot what he had shouted her for, and shook his head to collect himself again, "Good luck...with the prefect thing!" He added, when she threw a confused look his way.

She grinned, and waved, before continuing up the staircase. She spotted a dark haired boy at the top of the staircase, who turned and waved at her. She walked towards him, "Hey Albus; are you excited to be going home?" She asked, even though the question and the thought of home made her feel slightly sad.

He nodded, "Yeah, we're going on holiday this summer! And we're going the muggle way! Dad says he wants us to have as many normal experiences as possible so..." he shrugged. "I am pretty excited. Lily is nervous though, so is Mum."

Rose tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled, "Aunt Ginny only likes flying when she's in control. I wouldn't be surprised if she kicks the pilot out and flies it herself."

"Or apparates right out of her seat and meets us at the hotel."

"I'd love to see Uncle Harry explain that one to security, how they lost one person from the plane whilst in the air." She giggled, and then glanced around as she was nudged by the steady stream of students that were heading down the stairs, and the sudden claustrophobic feel of the area encouraged her to say goodbye to her cousin, and continue the walk to the Gryffindor tower, and then her dormitory.

Her dormitory looked like a bombsite; all five of the girls had been attempting to pack their trunks in the short breaks they had between exams. Now, they had all finished the exams, and the other four girls were there packing when she entered. Harriet, Carly, Tegan and Kaya were attempting to make some sense of the mess.

Rose noticed a pair of her own pyjama bottoms on Tegan's bed, the one nearest to the door, and she picked them up quickly, before slyly tossing them onto her own bed opposite before anyone noticed she was there. Then she announced her arrival, "Hey!" She smiled, dropping her books, and then herself, down onto her bed. The other girls in her dormitory turned and offered their greetings, asking about her exam, as they continued to pack, and eventually she sat up and joined them in the act.

She couldn't help thinking about her Mum then, Hermione Weasley née Granger, who had never really fit in with the girls in her dormitory. Her best friends had been boys, and although Rose understood, Scorpius was one of her best friends and he was in a different house completely, she couldn't imagine being at Hogwarts with anyone other than the girls she shared this dormitory with.

After packing, they made their way down to the Great Hall together, for the end of year feast, giggling and gossiping as they did, and the hint of sadness that Rose had felt earlier infused more deeply with the opposite one of excitement, at the thought of boarding the Hogwarts Express tomorrow and heading home, leaving the castle behind for another long summer.


	2. Chapter 2

Kings Cross station was busy, as it always was, but especially so on September 1st. The mix of magic and muggle made manoeuvring trolleys piled high with trunks, and bird cages or other means of animal transportation a near impossible task.

The Weasley family stood out very clearly from the crowd, with their vivid red hair, a family trait that Rose hoped would never die out. Many found it strange that she was so proud to have inherited the flaming hair of her father, and the curls of her mother, but it was that that made her so obviously a Weasley. And being a Weasley, to her, was something to be very proud of.

They reached the wall between platforms nine and ten fairly quickly, all things considered, and then they formed the same queue they did every year. First, her Dad would go through, then Rose, followed by Hugo, with her Mum bringing up the rear. It wasn't until they were on the other side of the wall, with the huge scarlet train milling with students, that she truly felt at home.

"Ron! Hermione!" She heard her parent's names being called from a familiar voice, and she spun around to see her Uncle Harry standing by a crowd of students, along with her Aunt Ginny, and Cousins James, Albus and Lily.

"How was the holiday?" Rose's mother asked as they approached the Potter family. Ginny came forward and hugged them all, as Harry replied.

He smiled, "It was great. They all loved Rome, like I told them they would." He gave his family a jokingly stern look, and then turned back to his brother and sister-in-law. "Ginny and Lily were not fans of muggle flying though."

"I fly broomsticks, Harry," Ginny snapped, "Not large aircrafts that should not be able to get off the ground never mind float in the air for a few hours solid."

The nine of them laughed at that, and then broke off into separate conversations, discussing everything about their summer. The Weasley's had spent a week with Nan and Grandad Weasley, which Uncle George, Aunt Angelina, Fred and Roxanne had also been there for. They'd also visited Gran and Grandpa Granger which was nice; they didn't get to see them as much as they would like. Rose's best memories were always those that she had spent with her odd, hilarious, amazing and huge family.

She listened to Lily with interest as she told her all of her stories of Rome, before her attention was grabbed by her name being called over the bustle of the platform.

She spun around to see a familiar blonde head heading towards her, and she grinned and waved. As Scorpius approached he seemed to become suddenly wary, and his speed slowed down significantly, his hands finding their way into the pockets of his jeans, and his blonde fringe falling over his face in a way that half hid his face. But it wasn't enough, and at the same time Rose felt a body move up close behind her, and a protective arm go around her shoulders.

"Ron!" Her mother hissed as she noticed her husband taking a protective stance beside his daughter.

Ron looked over his shoulder at her and shrugged slightly, "He's a Malfoy."

"He is not Draco!" She hissed, even quieter though, as Scorpius was definitely in hearing distance now. As he approached, the entire of the family, Weasley and Potter alike, fell silent, and the tension among them was so high it was almost as if it could be felt, rippling through the air.

Rose sent out a silent apology, although she knew he couldn't feel it, and smiled weakly at him as he reached her. He smiled back and then turned, bravely, to the tall man stood beside her. He held out his hand as he said, "Hello, Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley." Ron ignored it, and Scorpius gulped, before noticing Harry and Ginny. "Hello, Mr and Mrs Potter." He said, his voice slightly shaky now after Ron's rejection.

At this point, Rose couldn't love her Uncle more, as he stepped forward and grabbed Scorpius' hand and shook it. "Hello Scorpius, how are your parents? Are they here?"

"They are talking to some old school friends," Scorpius replied, and Harry nodded before stepping back to say goodbye to his children, who were breaking away now to board the train. "Are you ready to board?" He asked, nodding towards the scarlet steam train.

As Rose opened her mouth to reply, her father cut in, "Excuse me, I am talking to my daughter." He said, and then stepped in front of Rose, and turned his back completely on Scorpius. Rose glared at him, Ronald Weasley, the man that had been on a chocolate frog card, who she learned about at school for being so brave and brilliant, the man who she admired and _idolised,_ being so childish and idiotic. "Now, Rosie-"

"Don't you Rosie me, Dad!" She snapped, "Are we going to go through this every year? Can't you just accept that Scorpius is my _friend_? He has done nothing wrong to you. This is getting so ridiculous!" She let out a sigh of frustration, and then instantly felt guilty as she watched her Dad's face change into one of hurt, although he quickly covered it up.

"I have a lot of history with his family, Rose-"

She sighed, "But not with _him_," she added, exasperated. She shrugged her shoulders then, and they dropped in a defeated way, "Whatever, I don't want to argue with you when I'm not going to see you until Christmas. So long, farewell, aufwiedersehn," she leaned forward and gave him a quick hug, "goodbye."

Her Mum came forward then and gave her a hug, and the usual lecture of 'stick in, eat properly, do lots of revision but also have fun', before they led both her and Hugo to the carriage that Albus and Lily were already in. James, being in his sixth year, was sitting with his own friends as he always did.

She took the seat opposite Hugo, at the end by the door, and her Mum leaned, running her fingers over her prefect badge, and then doing the same to Albus', with a proud look on her face.

It was then that the whistle sounded, and Hermione quickly stepped back, allowing Rose a full view of the platform crowded with parents. She spotted Scorpius in the crowd, and gasped. "Scorpius!" She yelled, beckoning him to their carriage. He gave another quick goodbye to his parents, before rushing across the platform.

Rose glared at her father, who refused to move for the boy, meaning he had to step around him, adding precious seconds to his run. The train was beginning to move when he reached them, and the students, along with Hermione, had to help the trunk into the carriage before Scorpius dived in just as the train began to pick up speed.

"That was risky," Albus said, shaking his head in disbelief as he took in Scorpius' form, sprawled across the seat; his feet were still over near the door, crossed over Rose's, although neither of them really noticed. Scorpius sat up with a smirk, and flipped his hair out of his face.

"I'm a Malfoy," He joked, "it's our thing."

Rose rolled her eyes, but smirked, and then settled back against her seat. She pulled out today's issue of the Daily Prophet that she had brought with her and began to read. The time seemed to be passing quickly enough; the boys were messing around, and Lily had excused herself ten minutes into the journey to go and find her friends. She forgot about the gleaming prefects badge on her chest until Kerry, a Ravenclaw student and a friend of Rose's, opened the carriage door.

She was wearing her robes, and looked bewildered to see Rose and Albus still in their normal clothes, "You're meant to be in the prefect's carriage," she said, coming in and sitting down in an empty spot. She smiled at Albus, but simply nodded to Scorpius in greeting.

Rose fought back the urge to react, knowing that the bad blood that had always been in Hogwarts between Slytherin and the rest of the houses had not died out. She herself was one of few that had crossed the invisible line that separated them.

"You better change into your robes," Kerry was continuing, and then she stood up and headed out of the carriage, "I'll see you down there then?" She asked, and Albus and Rose responded with a nod, before saying goodbye to Scorpius and following her out of the carriage.

The Great Hall never changed, and for Scorpius it was always a welcome sight. He could never understand when he passed muggles on the street when he was home, and he heard them complaining about having to go back to school. He loved it here.

He sat at the Slytherin table as the first years were getting sorted, but he couldn't force himself to be interested. Instead his attention was drawn to the table of scarlet, and the girl with hair to match.

Galloping gargoyles, she really was beautiful. He wished he could tell her, but he was scared of rejection, especially from her. Besides, even if by some miracle she did feel the same way, which he honestly could never imagine happening, her Dad would never let them be together. His Dad didn't even know they were really friends, because anyone could work out what Draco Malfoy would think of his only son being friends with a Weasley.

It was just impossible, as much as he wanted to just cross the Great Hall, sweep her up and kiss her right now.

"Scorpius?" Someone nudged him in the side, and he turned to see his friends staring at him oddly. It was Hannah who had spoken, a girl with short, curly blonde hair who had decided she wanted to be his friend on his first day at Hogwarts, and had never given up since. "Aren't you hungry?" She asked, gesturing to the feast that had now filled the long house table.

He glanced around, clearing his thoughts as if he were coming out of a trance. He supposed he was, in a way. Rose did that to him; she was just so captivating that he could spot here in the largest crowd, and she would command his full attention without even so much as glancing his way. It was automatic.

He jumped out of his thoughts again as something collided with his head, and he looked down to see a chicken leg lying near him. He glared at his friend, Adam Zabini, who was sat across from him. "What was that for?" Scorpius demanded, but Adam just narrowed his eyes at him in a way that left no doubt in Scorpius' mind that he knew what he was thinking about. It occurred to him then how much Adam looked like his father, and even acted like him. Blaise always seemed to see through Draco in exactly the same way.

Scorpius felt his cheeks flush slightly, which may have gone unnoticed on anyone else, but with his family's trademark pale skin, it stood out as clearly as if someone had stapled a chocolate frog to his forehead. In an attempt to hide it, he busied himself grabbing food from the different platters surrounding his seat, keeping his head down as he did.

It wasn't long before the feast was over, and the tables were cleared. Then all the prefects were standing up ready to lead the first years to the dormitories before the rest of the school followed. Scorpius' eyes roamed the hall, locating all of the new prefects, none of which were much of a surprise to him. Then his eyes fell again on the Gryffindor table, were Rose and Albus were rounding up the first years.

She had a huge grin on her face. She'd always wanted to be a prefect. He knew because she had been panicking about it towards the end of their last year at Hogwarts. As he watched her, a strange feeling began to emerge in him, and he realised it was pride. Pride, because this amazing girl, this beautiful, honest, smart, kind, _perfect _girl had worked hard and got everything she wanted. Everything she deserved.

"Are you coming Scorpius?" Hannah asked, and he smiled at her and nodded.

He loved his parents, he really did, but walking the corridors of Hogwarts, guessing the timing of the moving staircases, the familiar cold of the Slytherin dungeon common room...he felt like he was home again. This was where he belonged.

He fell asleep in his four poster bed feeling happier than he had been all summer.


	3. Chapter 3

Their fifth year at Hogwarts began with Potions class, with Professor Slughorn.

The Gryffindor's were the first ones to the dungeon classroom, but it wasn't long until they were joined by the Slytherin's, with whom they would be sharing the class this year.

Rose was surrounded by the girls from her dormitory, but she spotted Scorpius as soon as he arrived. She looked up, and raised her hand in a half wave as a greeting. He grinned back, and made a move as if he was going to cross the corridor to speak to her, but suddenly Tegan pulled on her arm, commanding her attention and making the girl turn her back on Scorpius.

"What are you all standing out here for?" A voice demanded, although kindly, as the door to the classroom burst open, "Come in, come in. Find a seat and settle down, please."

Rose followed the girls to a long bench towards the back of the room, whilst the rest of the students filled up the remaining seats. After arranging her copy of her potions textbook, her parchment, her quill and ink on the desk, she sat quietly, waiting for the class to begin.

She liked Professor Slughorn, but he wasn't her favourite teacher. He was nice enough to her, and he adored Albus. He was even a fan of Tegan, but the way he treated...less able potion makers was questionable. He could never even remember half of the students' name, including Scorpius', and he was his head of house. Usually he just referred to him as Malfoy, which was better than always getting his forename wrong.

"Okay students, welcome back to Hogwarts and welcome to fifth year Potions!" The rounded man smiled kindly, placing his hands on his belly as he spoke, "This year is going to be quite stressful, I would imagine," he laughed, obviously expecting the students to laugh back but, glancing around, Rose could tell that his humour was lost in the sea of pupils. They really were worried about their O.W.L.'s, it would seem.

Slughorn continued talking, but Rose was flipping through her textbook, and glanced up only when the class started to move around. She felt the panic flutter in her stomach as she realised she hadn't listened to anything Slughorn had said, and she didn't know what she was meant to be doing.

Tegan, who had been sitting next to her, had already headed to the cupboard with the other Gryffindor girls, and Rose found herself standing alone. She saw Slughorn glance her away, and quickly busied herself with her book, pretending to study it so as to not show that she really had no clue what she was doing.

"Page sixty two."

Rose jumped slightly at the voice close to her ear. "What?" She asked, momentarily stunned by Scorpius' face being so close to hers. She had never noticed, but his cool grey eyes mixed with a tinge of blue. It transformed eyes that could hold such a cold glare to eyes that could make you feel so safe, and so happy.

His hand brushed lightly against hers, shocking her from her thoughts with the touch of his cool skin. "The potion we're doing; it's on page sixty two," he repeated, turning the page in her book and then taking a step back, "Would you like me to walk you to the cupboard, Miss Weasley?" He asked, smirking.

She smiled back sweetly, before linking her arm through the one that he offered and allowing him to lead her across the classroom.

Rose avoided Scorpius for the rest of the day. If she was being honest with herself, she was still surprised by her reaction to his touch, to his closeness, to the way she was temporarily frozen by his eyes, and she had wanted to put some distance between the two of them and give herself chance to clear her head.

She imagined that it was just shock; she had not heard Scorpius come up behind her, and when he had spoken, he had startled her. That was all.

Feeling better for her understanding, she headed down to the Great Hall at lunchtime and sat with the girls, before seeking out Scorpius.

It felt good to be with her, Scorpius thought. He had been looking forward to spending their free period together, sitting under of the large trees in the grounds as they always used to. When she declined he'd worried he'd offended her, although he couldn't think why.

"It feels good to be back, doesn't it?" Scorpius asked, leaning back against the tree, enjoying the feel of the sun beating down, heating up his usually cold skin.

Rose smiled, looking around the grounds at the lake, with the sun reflecting brightly off of it, and the smoke rising from the chimney of Hagrid's hut. "Really good," she answered before turning her attention back to the Charms book in her lap.

Since starting at Hogwarts, Charms had been Rose's favourite class. It was the class she was best at, but that didn't mean she was bad at the rest of them. Far from it really; in fact, some of her older Professor's found it hilarious to often refer to her as Hermione if she raised her hand in class. Rose didn't find it funny; although she was proud of being Ron and Hermione Weasley's daughter, she hated living in their shadow. It was hard to be herself when everyone was comparing her to her parents.

Scorpius had the same problem, although a lot a worse. The Malfoy's had switched sides at the end of the war and had escaped punishment, but that didn't change many people's opinion of the family. Rose remembered clearly the sorting ceremony; the entire hall had begun whispering when Scorpius had been sorted into Slytherin, and that moment had cemented the opinions that everyone already had; that Scorpius was just like his father.

He wasn't. He was nothing like Draco Malfoy, yet every day he had to suffer the prejudices of people, more so than any other Slytherin student. The ill feeling that most of Hogwarts had against him came not just from his house, but mostly was born from his last name.

"We haven't even had a Charms lesson yet, and you're already studying." He shook his head at her as he gestured towards her textbook. She glanced up at him, her eyes narrowed slightly, but he smirked, "You are really strange."

She simply shrugged, "I am my mother's daughter."

He nodded, and leaned back on his elbows. His hair fell into his face and framed his features in such an attractive way that Rose found herself having to make a conscious effort not to look at him. "Quidditch try-outs are next week." He commented, "Are you going to try-out this year?"

Rose laughed with a hint of sarcasm, "Totally. I was first to sign up, Scorpius, because I am such an amazing player." She rolled her eyes, "I can barely even keep myself on a broom, never mind chase a snitch or a quaffle or whatever."

"You might surprise yourself."

"I won't." She said simply, before gathering her books up and standing up. After wiping down her skirt and robes to clear them of any grass that may have attached itself, she glanced down at Scorpius, "We're going to be late for class, we should get going." He nodded, and she offered him her hand and pulled him up, before they headed back to the entrance hall.

Once inside they separated; Rose had Transfiguration with the Hufflepuff's.

The rest of the day passed quite quickly, but when everyone else was heading back to their common rooms after dinner, Rose and the rest of the Gryffindor's, along with the Ravenclaw's, headed to the Astronomy Tower.

Once they arrived, Rose gasped, spying a blue head of hair that she recognised immediately. He could have any hairstyle he wanted, but he preferred the blue one he had adopted tonight. Rose knew that it was the hair colour he had had soon after his birth, and also the last time he had seen his parents, not that he could remember that time. He never said it, but Rose supposed that was why he favoured that colour. It made him feel closer to his parents.

"Teddy!" She called, and he spun around, his hands in his pockets. The students surrounding them began mumbling, and that's when she realised; "Sorry, I mean Professor Lupin, I guess." She threw him a confused look that left no doubt of the question behind it, but he just tilted his head and smiled.

"Hello students, I will be your new Astronomy Professor this year," he addressed the entire group that had gathered at the top of the tower, "My name is Professor Lupin; move in closer, I won't bite." A smirk slightly pulled at the corners of his mouth at the last comment, but nobody but Rose picked up on the joke. "Your fifth year should be quite interesting; I certainly found it to be so. Especially so because now you don't have to climb all the way up here at midnight; not that many of you probably go to sleep before midnight anyway." His eyes twinkled, and the class giggled.

He had them in the palm of his hand already, and they hadn't even been here five minutes. Teddy had that effect on people; everyone just liked him. They couldn't help it. Rose had been told by her Nana Weasley that Tonks, his mother, had had the same effect on people.

"This year we are going to study Jupiter's moons." Teddy was continuing, "It's interesting if you really try. If you don't, then it will be a waste of your time but you have to do it anyway, so you may as well put some effort in." He shrugged, "Okay, set up your telescopes over there and we'll begin, shall we?"

He began by naming the moons, and he was right, it was quite interesting. The class seemed to agree, but whether that was because they agreed or because they wanted to impress this new, young and attractive Professor, Rose wasn't sure. "Moving along from Io we see Europa. It's most distinguishing feature is its icy surface, so remember that, I'll be setting an essay on these moons and that's the sort of thing that will gain you points. It was discovered in 1610 by the Muggle astronomer Galileo Galilei, though several wizards have claimed to have observed it long before then. Alright, next we have Callisto..."

The rest of the class passed in much the same manner; Rose had never known her classmates to be so enthralled by any of their school subjects, let alone Astronomy. Kaya had hung back to wait for her, but Rose had sent her off with the rest of their friends, wanting to speak to Teddy away from everyone else.

When the tower was empty except for the two of them, she spoke, "I didn't know you were teaching here."

He turned to her and smiled, shrugging at the same time, "I only told Harry." He replied, "Although I think Lily overheard us, but...she's smart. She must have realised I didn't want to tell anyone about it."

"I didn't even see you at the feast!" She continued, "Or breakfast this morning. Have you been hiding?" She joked.

He grinned, "You know me, Rosie, always late." He laughed as he circled the area, picking up abandoned pieces of parchment and pumpkin pies that people had sneaked from dinner. "As it happens, I went to see Harry. I was feeling nervous about today, so I went to talk to him and arrived late. See, I can do that because my lessons don't start until after dinner." He winked, and Rose smirked at him. "So how did I do? Harry said I would be fine, that I was a natural, but that is rubbish obviously. But I tried my best, and I think you would be my biggest test. You're so much like your Mum it is quite intimidating to teach you. You know, she made me a little exam paper on all the stuff I would be teaching over the summer and tested me on it!" He laughed, "I passed, otherwise I would probably be crying in the mountains, but no... I'm here instead."

Rose assured him that the lesson was great, but one part of his speech hadn't gone unnoticed. She tilted her head and scrunched up her lips before asking, "Why don't you call him Uncle Harry anymore?" She paused and then added, "You used to."

He paused momentarily, but quickly gathered himself and shrugged, "I'm a bit old now; it's one of those things you grow out of."

"Is it?" She asked, "Well, I think twenty four is a weird age to stop. Why not just be done with it as soon as you hit eighteen?" She was being sarcastic, she knew, but for some reason it had upset her. To hear him just refer to him as 'Harry' made it seem like he wasn't family anymore, as if he had decided he didn't want to be part of their family anymore, and that hurt. "I'll be eighteen soon, should I stop?"

"No. Not if you don't want to."

She raised her eyebrows, "Why did you want to?"

"Rose-"

"It's a simple question."

"BECAUSE HE ISN'T REALLY MY UNCLE!" He snapped, and Rose jumped slightly, involuntarily taking a step back when his voice rose. He breathed out deeply, "We're not really related, are we? It seems silly to pretend."

Rose opened her mouth to speak, and then stopped, shocked by his honesty. She didn't know what she expected, but she hadn't really expected him to admit he wasn't really family. She had always considered him to be her family, even if they weren't as close as him and the Potters. "Yes you are; why would you say you aren't?"

He stopped what he was doing and looked at her, a sadness flooding in his eyes as if he had been hiding it for a long time, but now it came rushing out like a tidal wave of emotion. "I wish I was Rosie, but I'm not. My family died before you were born. I've got my Grandma, but that's it." He shrugged, and then smiled slightly, trying to ease the tension, "Hey, I'm your teacher now; if you don't do as I say and go back to your dormitory, then I can take points from Gryffindor."

Rose laughed but nodded in agreement, "If you really want to abuse your position like that." She grinned, but headed towards the staircase anyway. When she reached it she turned back to face him, "You know, not all families have to be blood related. Sometimes you really can choose them."


	4. Chapter 4

Teddy's words spun in Rose's head for the remainder of the night; she couldn't stop herself feeling hurt by his words. Teddy was her family; that was a fact that she had never questioned. He had spent entire summers with both the Potters' and the Weasley's. He had been the one to first teach Rose how to ride a broom, although that remained their little secret. Her dad would be devastated if he found out; she always declined to fly with him and Hugo when he asked.

She let out a sigh, and pushed herself up off of her four poster bed just as the door to the dormitory opened. Tegan walked in, and the two girls smiled at each other, before Tegan perched on end of Rose's bed.

"What are you doing up here all alone?" She asked.

Rose shrugged, "I was just about to get started on some work."

Tegan looked confused, and then raised an eyebrow, "We didn't get any homework today." Rose was momentarily stuck for words; truthfully, she just wasn't in the mood to be with anyone, pretending to be happy right now, when Teddy's words were still clear in her head. Concern flashed over Tegan's face momentarily, before she shrugged and said, "I guess it is prefect stuff, right?"

Rose smiled slightly. She knew that Tegan was fully aware she didn't have any prefect duties tonight, and while she might not know why Rose was avoiding everyone, she wasn't going to challenge it. She had always been the most understanding out of her group of friends. Rose nodded in response to her question, and Tegan continued.

"I'll tell the girls you won't be joining us," She got up and headed to the door, and then turned back again, "and if I see Albus downstairs, I'll inform him of his fake prefect duties tonight!" The girls laughed, and then with a small wave Tegan left.

Rose stood up, and grabbed her cardigan. After pulling it over her shoulders, she headed for the door. She knew where she wanted to go, who she wanted to see, but she could only hope that person was where she hoped.

There were only a few students in the entrance hall, and even fewer around the steps outside of the castle doors. Rose descended the steps, and started on the route down to the Quidditch pitch.

She didn't make it all the way there; she paused before rounding the corner of the castle that led around to the pitch, hearing set of many different voices, giggling, talking or shouting excitedly. Moments later, the Slytherin's rounded the corner, and she caught sight of the blonde head she was looking for; only seconds later, he spotted her too, and weaved through the crowd to reach her.

"Hey!" Scorpius grinned as he reached her. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight. What are you doing down here?" He asked. He stopped beside her, but after some complaints and grunts from those behind, he placed his hand on the small of her back to gently guide her forward.

Rose jumped at his touch; his usually cool hands had caused a burst of heat to erupt in her where he touched. Her shock propelled her forward further than his guiding hand, and Scorpius' dropped it back to his side. "I, er- I just wanted to talk to you." She said, "But you seem busy so I'll just head to the library."

"What? No, I'm not busy." Scorpius responded. "Even if I was, I'm never too busy for you Rosie, you know that." Rose smiled; she wasn't sure where these feelings were coming from, but she did know that that was what she had wanted him to say. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't seen him all summer; they _had _seemed to grow a lot closer during the last school year, and usually they would secretly plan to meet up in Diagon Alley, and pretend that it was a complete coincidence during the awkward encounters between both of our parents. But owing to holidays this summer, our schedules had clashed and we hadn't seen each other since leaving Kings Cross Station last July. Maybe she'd just missed him more than she realised.

He was peering at her, "Rose? Is everything okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah it's fine, really, but… you remember my cousin Teddy, right?" She asked; Scorpius had met him briefly on their trips to Diagon Alley, and Rose talked about him a lot. He didn't remember much about him, but he knew who he was. "Well, he is actually the new Astronomy professor, I just found out when I got to the lesson! But yeah, something he said… it just got to me."

He looked at her face, and noticing the hurt there, he glanced around, spying an empty area of the grounds not too far away. Ignoring the looks of his fellow house mates, and nodded in the general direction of the area, signalling for Rose to follow him.

After setting his broom down on the floor and settling down next to it, he leaned against the tree trunk and said, "So what happened?"

Rose looked into his eyes; he looked genuinely concerned, and suddenly she realised how silly this was. Maybe she was overreacting; maybe Teddy was too old to be calling Harry his uncle. "Actually Scor, on second thought it really isn't a big deal. How were try-outs? Did you make the team?"

"Yes," He said, "But something is bothering you, Rose, and if it will make you feel better to tell me, then tell me."

"Oh it is so silly, Scorpius! Just, T eddy said he wasn't really part of the family. And I know that he isn't, by blood, but to me he is. I've never thought he isn't, and it just hurt, that's all." Suddenly all of the emotion filled her up, and she slammed her fists down onto the grass. "What is so bad about being related to us? They didn't bother telling us they were going to be at my Nana and Grandad Weasley's. And do you know what, while I'm at it, I'm annoyed at my Dad, the way he treated you at the train station. My Dad probably got Teddy the job here anyway, so he could keep an eye on me and keep us apart. Teddy did say my Mum had been testing him on all his stuff; maybe that's why Teddy said that. To make me angry with him, and make it easier to keep us apart; I'll probably have detention with him by this time next week." She stopped as Scorpius chuckled, "It isn't funny."

He stifled his laugh to a smirk and then shook his head, "No I know, but I think you're reading too much into this. Your Dad did not get Teddy this job so he could look after you; I bet he had no part in it. And as for Teddy… Well I've studied the war too, Rosie, and I don't know much, but I know that his Dad was a professor here too. Maybe it's just stirring up emotions for him; he will come around." He patted her hand and she let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding, "And," He continued, glancing at her with a look that made her instantly relax, "I am used to your Dad. So don't you worry about me, Weasley."

She giggled, "It shouldn't be that way though. We live in an entirely different world now than when they were at school; we are entirely different to they were."

Scorpius shrugged, "I'm a Malfoy, and you're a Weasley. We knew starting out that our friendship wasn't going to be well accepted. My Dad is far from your biggest fan either." He winked, pulling some grass out of the ground and through it at her. She swiped it out of her hair as they both laughed.

And suddenly she was calm. Talking to Scorpius did that to her; he made her laugh, but he also knew when to be serious, and when to listen to her. "Hey," he said, pulling her from her thoughts. "Those days might just be a story in a textbook to us, or photos of family members on the wall, but for our families…they are memories. They live with the remnants of that time every day of their lives, and Teddy…he lost everything in that war. So try not to be too upset with him."

She nodded, and after he had stood up, she accepted his hand to pull her off the ground, and they walked back to the castle together.

The rest of the first week back at Hogwarts went by without much more drama; the only thing that was worth mention to Rose was the arrival of a letter, carried by her mother's owl, Flit, one morning.

_ Dear Rose,_

_ I hope your fifth year started well, but I miss you so much! I hope you are looking after your brother too. I suppose homework has already started piling up, but I imagine you are keeping well on top of it, as always. I have no doubt that you will pass your O.W.L's with no issues when they finally arrive!_

_ I really just wanted to apologise for your father's behaviour at the train station. But you should excuse his behaviour, Rosie. You have got to understand that our entire family, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny included, have a lot of bad history with the Malfoy family. And, darling, I know that you like Scorpius and you value his friendship, but it is going to be difficult for your father to accept this; just bear that in mind, okay?_

_ I hope to hear from you soon darling, and make sure you and your brother both stick in with your work!_

_ All my love,_

_ Mum xx_

It had made Rose angry to read it. She had never had any doubt in her mind of her father's feelings towards Scorpius, but her mother had always been more understanding. She knew that in school, she had suffered prejudice, being a muggle born, and Rose had always felt like that was why her mother seemed more accepting of her friendship with Scorpius. Some part of Rose had always hoped that her Mum could have gotten through to her husband, and that eventually Ron himself could have come around to the idea. But now it was clear that that wasn't going to happen; her Mum had sided with her Dad, and now none of her family was in support of her best friend.

Scorpius had known she was upset. She always arrived at the Great Hall before her breakfast; Rose was definitely a morning person, but Scorpius could never drag himself out of bed until the very last moment. When he made it down to breakfast that morning, she was seated alone at the long Gryffindor table, and she was holding a piece of parchment in her hands, her long red hair falling forwards, hiding her face. But he didn't need to see her face to spot her in even the largest crowd.

She sat about half way the Great Hall, at the centre of the table. "Morning Rosie," He said, as he sat down beside her.

She jumped, and quickly folded up the letter and stuffed it inside her robes before turning to look at him, "Hey," she smiled, and then reached out for bacon, sausages and an egg to put on her plate. Scorpius picked the plate of toast that was to his right, and passed it to her, knowing that she would ask for that next. She smiled in thanks as she took two slices from the plate, and picked up her knife and fork and began eating, while Scorpius reached around for his own breakfast.

"Letter from home?" He asked, and Rose looked at him. She didn't reply. Instead, she just looked confused. Scorpius raised his eyebrow slightly, himself confused by her reaction, "The parchment I saw you reading, was it a letter from home?"

"Oh… yeah." She shrugged, "Nothing important at all. Just my Mum… she was reminding me to do my work and all that." She shook her head, "It's not important. I need to get to class, I'll see you later."

Rose stood up and grabbed her bag, swinging her legs around. It took Scorpius a second to collect himself, before he grabbed his own stuff and followed her. He thought better than to cause a scene in the hall; Rose was shy, he knew that all too well from when he first tried to get her attention in first year. She had responded to his efforts by throwing a jug of gravy at him during dinner, and then running off to her dormitory. He hadn't seen her at all for a week, except for classes, but he had learnt his lesson. From then on, he made sure to use much more discreet measures to gain her trust and affinity.

His legs were longer than hers, so despite her head start he managed to reach her at the bottom of the staircase. He grabbed her arm, "Rose," she turned to him and he couldn't miss the moment of hurt on her face, before she hid in a smile, "we're in the same class, you idiot. Potions?"

"Oh yes of course," She smiled softly, "For some reason I thought I had Charms. Sorry."

He shook his head, "No problem." He began to descend the stairs, and after a moment's hesitation she followed him. "Rose what's wrong?" She shook her head, and he rolled his eyes, "I know you, Rosie, and I know when something is wrong."

"Nothing is wrong." She said, smiling to make her statement more convincing, "I just didn't sleep very well last night, that's all." She hated lying to him, but it was necessary. Scorpius already felt guilty enough, feeling that he was causing a rift between herself and her Dad. He only stuck around because Rose had convinced him that her mother understood, that eventually she would get through to him and they would all accept their friendship. If her Mum was really taking her Dad's side in this, then Scorpius would feel even worse. Rose was prepared to fight for their friendship, she always had been; she liked Scorpius ever since first year, and his first attempt to get her attention by nicknaming her 'ginge' and shouting it across the Great Hall to invite her to go with him to the first Quidditch match. Rose remembered being horrifically embarrassed and hating him for it, she'd responded by throwing a jug of gravy over him and ending up with detention, but really she found it amusing, and he hadn't stopped amusing her since.

She was prepared to fight, but she knew he wasn't prepared to let her. He would walk away so to prevent a fight in her family. Family was so important to him, more than anyone she'd ever known. But she had read about the Malfoy's; they had always been that way. She knew that his grandmother had helped to defeat Voldemort in the war only to save her son, Scorpius' dad. Family was the most important thing to the Malfoy's, and Scorpius felt no different.

"Well if you say that that's all it is Rosie then I'll accept that," He said, "but you do realise that we are now going to be really early to class, and I didn't get chance to eat any breakfast. This is going to murder my reputation; Scorpius Malfoy has never been early to a class in his life. And now I'm going to be a hungry loser, because you made me skip out on breakfast." He shook his head teasingly, "I blame you for my downfall, Weasley."

Rose giggled and shrugged, "I would accept the blame, but I don't recall ever asking you to follow me, Malfoy. You did that by your own choice."

"Yeah I know," He said, his voice turning serious. "But you looked upset, and I'll never let that anything get in the way of making sure you're okay."

Potions class went by as normal; Rose seemed to forget the letter in her robes, and Scorpius accepted that everything truly was okay. The days passed as normal, but eventually the time came for his first Quidditch practise.

Having been on the team last year too, he knew many of his fellow team members well, but there was still a couple of new faces, replacing those that had left school last year. There weren't many of them though; one new girl, a chaser, and two boys, a chaser and a beater.

Scorpius knew the two boys from the common room; he knew they were loud, cocky and generally acted like clowns. They were together a lot of the time, and he assumed they were best friends. They were talking to the other team members, and Scorpius was already spying a divide between those who were chatting and laughing with them, and those were rolling their eyes and walking down to the pitch several paces ahead of them in an attempt to blank them out.

But the girl walked alone. She was several steps behind those in the lead, and several ahead of those bringing up the rear, and Scorpius himself. He sped up enough to catch her in a short few seconds.

"Hey," he said as he reached her, and the girl turned to him, a look of shock on her face. She had long blonde hair, pulled back in a sleek ponytail. It wasn't as bright as Scorpius', his was more white blonde, but hers was a yellowy shade. "I'm Scorpius."

She nodded, "I know." He raised his eyebrow at that and she shrugged, "Everyone knows who you are. I've seen you around a lot."

"Have you?"

"Yeah. I'm in fourth year; I've seen you around for the past four years. I take it you haven't seen me." Scorpius shook his head, suddenly feeling guilty. He never really paid much attention to any, except his group of friends in his house, and then Rose. The girl just shrugged again, "I wouldn't expect you to. I'm not the type of person to draw attention to myself. I'm Rhea, Rhea Blackwater."

Scorpius smirked as they stepped out into the grand Quidditch stadium. Although the stands were empty, the stadium also felt full of life. "I don't know if you've noticed, Rhea, but joining the Quidditch team is certainly going to draw attention to you." He laughed as she smirked.

"Maybe I wanted a change." She responded, before mounting her broom and kicking off from the ground.

Scorpius remained on the ground for a moment, watching her as she soared upwards, her long ponytail flowing behind her, before kicking off into the air himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Between the stress of the increased amount of work, and the general fun of being back at Hogwarts, the first weeks flew by. Before long the countdown to the Halloween feast had begun.

Rose was seated at a table in the library one late Tuesday afternoon; she had gotten an Astronomy essay off Professor Lupin the day before, on Jupiter's moons as he had promised in their first ever lesson. Astronomy had soon become the favourite subject for the majority of fifth year students, Rose had noticed. She figured it was because it was the class with the smallest workload. In fact, aside from a few short worksheets, this essay was the first real piece of work they had been set for the class since the school had begun.

She suspected it was partly because it had not been all that long since Teddy himself had been a student at Hogwarts, and he was well aware of the stress of the fifth year, owing the approaching O.W.L. exams. However, Rose suspected that it was more a desire to be a popular teacher that resulted in this lack of homework. Everybody knew that Astronomy was not a popular subject; many students didn't even take it seriously. It wasn't like Defence Against the Dark Arts, which she knew that Teddy's father had taught.

Remus Lupin had been popular with every house, except Slytherin house, which was not surprising. Although he had only taught for a year, the way her Uncle Harry and her mother spoke about him - and even her father, who had had no fondness for any other teacher or subject – told Rose that he was popular.

She wished she could have met him. She knew he was best friends with Albus' grandparents, the thought hitting as she glanced over at her cousin, working on the same essay, seated opposite her at the wooden table of the castle's grand old library.

"Io is the most volcanically active moon, right?" Albus' question pulled Rose out of her thoughts, and she glanced around at the piles of books, rolls of parchment and quills around her, familiarising herself with the situation again after her long stretch delving into her thoughts.

Rose glanced down at her own essay, "Err, yeah." She said, looking back up and nodding, "How are you getting on with it?"

Albus shrugged, "Okay I guess. It's pretty easy to compare Io and Europa, but I guess I'm struggling a bit more with Ganymede and Callisto."

"Only because it's not as simple as one is very hot and one is very cold." Rose joked, laughing as her cousin through her a glare as picked up his quill. She held up her hands in surrender, and then returned to her own essay.

She only managed to write one more paragraph before a body dropped down onto the seat beside her, and she caught a flash of green as his tie landed on the table. Scorpius slouched back in the chair, and picked up one of the text books that were surrounding Albus and Rose on their table. He glanced at the cover for a few seconds, and then dropped it back onto the table. It landed with a fairly loud bang, gaining him glares from students sat at the surrounding tables.

"Boring." He said, "Boring, boring. Do you know what else is boring?" He asked. Rose and Albus glanced at each other, as if looking for the answer from the other person, but eventually both turned back to Scorpius and shrugged, "This library! Let's go somewhere fun."

Rose raised her eyebrow, "And where do you propose we go? We aren't allowed to leave the castle grounds, Hagrid will be teaching a class so going to visit him is off the list, dinner isn't for another 2 hours." She paused, waiting for him to jump in with another option. When he didn't, she continued. "And I have an essay to do, and with this spare time I thought I would get it finished."

Scorpius rolled his eyes, "You're blowing off hanging out with me to do an Astronomy essay? Jeez, I thought you were better than that, Weasley." He winked, "When is it even due in for?"

"Next Monday." Albus replied.

Scorpius gave her a look that was torn between disgust and bewilderment. She couldn't help but smirk slightly. Even after four years of friendship, he still wasn't accustomed to her dedication to her school work.

"I don't believe I ever said no," Rose said, "You just haven't presented me with a better offer yet."

Scorpius fell quiet, thinking. Finally he smiled, put all of her books in a pile and pushed them closer to Albus. "What these for us, will you Albus?" Albus nodded and Rose smirked.

"Where are we going then?"

"It's a surprise, come on." He said. Rose rolled her eyes but giggled, and quickly stuffed her things into her bag. She felt a little guilty leaving Albus all alone to guard her books, but he didn't seem to mind, and before she had even reached the door of the library, she glanced back and saw that the seats that they had both just vacated had quickly been filled by two Hufflepuff girls.

She smiled; her cousin was never short of female attention. I guess it came with the territory of being Harry and Ginny Potter's son. James was the same. Lily was gorgeous, inheriting her mother's looks, and also attracted a fair bit of male attention, but she was shy and didn't seem to really notice it herself. She kept herself to herself the majority of the time so, at the moment anyway; boys didn't stand a chance with her.

She followed Scorpius through the corridors; they were more or less deserted, most students being in class at this time. She followed him down the staircases, and then down the stairs leading into the entrance hall. He was heading towards the open doors leading out to the castle grounds, and the October wind was rushing into the entrance hall, and Rose pulled her robes tighter around her before continuing after him.

She tried to shout to him, but it was impossible over the high winds; he wouldn't hear her. She paused, and he turned back, glancing over her wary facial expression. He only smirked, and then stepped back to her and gripped her arm, pulling her forward. She rolled her eyes. After being friends with Scorpius for so long, she knew that it was pointless to argue. He was very persistent, and it was a rare day that he didn't get what he wanted. It had never escaped Rose's notice that although Scorpius was quite smart, he rarely studied, except when he was with her, and yet he breezed through school with no troubles. She also noticed that Scorpius had always kept up an easy rapport with the professors, and she doubted that his easy school career was a coincidence. He was hardly the model student.

The trip across the grounds seemed quicker today, Scorpius noticed, he assumed it was due to the wind behind them, propelling them forward. Before long they were passing Hagrid's hut. He could hear his voice, but only faintly, and it seemed to be coming from the other side, where he was no doubt holding his class.

He kept walking towards the forest.

Suddenly, he felt Rose stop walking. He tried to drag her forward, but she dug in her heels. He let go of her arm with a mischievous smirk and shrugged, but Rose only backed up against Hagrid's front door. It provided some protection from the wind, so at least they could talk.

"What the heck are you doing?" Rose asked, eyes wide as Scorpius chuckled.

"I said I wanted to do something fun!"

Rose pulled a face that perfectly showed her disbelief, and then she hit him on the arm. She had intended it to be lightly, but apparently she was more annoyed than she thought, and her anger had caused her punch to be harder than anticipated. "I thought you meant… I don't know… playing a game of chess in the Great Hall or something!"

Scorpius laughed, a throw your head back kind of laugh, and Rose couldn't help smirking a little back, after quickly glancing around to make sure no one could hear them. But of course, the wind was carrying their voices away before they could reach Hagrid and the students on the other side of the hut. "God, you are really boring!" He smiled, showing that he was just kidding, "Lighten up. Have you ever broken a rule since starting at Hogwarts?"

"No." She snapped, "And if I was going to start, going into the _Forbidden _Forest would so not be at the top of my list. You just want to throw me in at the deep end!"

He shrugged, "It'll be fun. And I promise you that we will not get caught." He grinned, "And hey, if we do, I'll just tell I put you under the Imperius Curse. I'm a Malfoy, they won't find that too hard to believe."

Rose nudged him in the side. It was rare that Scorpius spoke about his family to Rose, and it was even rarer that he would speak about his own feelings towards them. But very occasionally he would say things that told Rose he was ashamed. He was ashamed of the way Draco had acted during those darkest times in Wizarding history, and I think that sometimes Scorpius felt ashamed to be his son; he felt as if he was living in the shadow of his parents' mistakes.

"Shut up." Rose said, and then cast a nervous eye towards the forest. "I can't, Scor. I cannot go in there."

"Yes you can." He said. "Okay, how about this, it is Halloween soon. A time when everyone can be anyone or anything they want. You love Halloween," He winked, "Come on. I'm really bored, Rosie, excite me."

"Don't you Rosie me!" She snapped, but she couldn't deny that he had gotten under her skin. He had called her boring; he might have been joking, but he had said it. She wasn't sure why, but for some reason, that hurt her. She didn't want Scorpius to think she was boring even one bit.

With one quick glance around to check that no one could see her, she rushed into the forest, Scorpius following close behind.

"What was that?" Rose demanded, jumping as she heard another noise in the close vicinity.

She'd been spooked by every noise since they'd broken the rules by entering the Forbidden Forest. Scorpius wasn't sure if it was because she was genuinely frightened of whatever could be lurking around them; he'd been in here plenty of times and had never experienced anything that he felt threatened by, and he had never seen Rose get scared at anything, or very rarely. He thought her nervousness was probably because of the whole 'forbidden thing'.

He couldn't help feeling slightly guilty, as if he was a bad influence. His Dad always said he would be. Draco Malfoy wasn't happy about his son being friends with a Weasley, mostly for the obvious reasons; the two families had a past. But Draco had changed since he was at school, and he recognised the similarities between himself and Scorpius. Scorpius was a rule breaker, just like his father had been.

Draco had met Rose once, in Diagon Alley, the summer before their third year. Scorpius was treating them both to an ice cream at the parlour when his father had come in looking for him. Scorpius was expecting him to be angry, after all his son was friends with a _Weasley! _But he was fine; he said hello to Rose, and asked her how her family was. After everything he had heard about his dad from during those dark times from his past, Scorpius felt really proud in that moment. It wasn't until they'd said goodbye to Rose and left the parlour that Draco had said the only comment he had ever said about their friendship; "She is very like her mother, Scorpius." He'd said, and Scorpius had readied himself for an insult, but it never came.

"She was very smart, Hermione Granger. A good person too, although I never liked her; I think it is probably best that we never became friends. She was too good to be friends with someone like, and I'd only have spoilt that for her. She has a good life now, and she never would have had that if we'd ever become friends." He'd paused, and looked at Scorpius for a long moment. Scorpius didn't speak though; it was rare to have his father open up to him this way, and he was afraid that if he spoke he would break the moment, as if pulling his father from a trance just by using his voice. "You're not good for her son; it might be soon, or it might be later on, but one day you're going to be her downfall. You'll be a bad influence on her."

In that moment he realised that his father had been right. But as they sat in this small clearing in the forest, he couldn't feel too guilty. He was too happy to be there with her, alone, where no one could interrupt them. She looked so carefree sat here, and that only added to her beauty.

He was so in love with her, but his father was right. Of course he could never be good enough for her.

"It was just the wind, Rosie." He said, and she relaxed slightly, and rested back against the tree that stood behind where she was sat on the forest floor.

"This feels so wrong," She said, turning her head slightly to glance at him. He smirked, and shuffled closer, leaning back himself against the same thick tree trunk. "But so good at the same time. I've never truly let my hair down this way before."

Scorpius gazed at her for a long moment, at the strands of hair that were blowing across her face in the wind, and then said "it looks good on you. Most things do." He spoke without realising what he was saying, but once the words were out, he didn't regret saying them. Rose was beautiful; she was smart and funny and he was in awe of her every day, and she needed to know how perfect she was.

Rose flushed at his words, although she realised that he probably didn't mean that the way it sounded. It was just a passing comment she decided, and then said "I heard they were planning on doing a winter dance this year."

"Really?" Scorpius asked, and she nodded in response, "Huh, I thought they only did that for the Triwizard Tournament."

"Well they do usually, but I guess the school wanted to do something different this year. Apparently, Tegan was telling me, it is a real formal dance, just like the Yule Ball is during the tournament. We need dates and gowns and dress robes." She rolled her eyes, "Of course, this is all just rumours at the minute. Even if it's true I doubt I'll go."

Scorpius whipped his head around to stare at her, "Why not?"

She giggled slightly, in a way that said 'what a stupid question.' "I'm not like you, Scor. You're popular, and loads of girls fancy you. You'll easily get a date. Do you know the extent of boys I've spoken to since coming to Hogwarts? You, Albus and occasionally James when he can bear to be seen with me. Boys don't like, and it would be a miracle if I was asked to the dance."

"That is ridiculous, Rosie." He shook his head, "Any boy would be lucky to go with you."

"Don't be silly, Scor." She said, breaking eye contact to turn away from him. She picked up a twig off of the ground and began running it across the mud, dragging fallen leaves around with it.

Scorpius placed a hand under her chin and pulled her back to face him, "I'm not being silly." He said softly, still holding her face in his hands. He felt no nerves, all of a sudden, and felt it was right to tell her now. Here she was, sitting and telling him that she wasn't beautiful or liked at all, when she was. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and if she thought differently then he needed to change that. "Rose, I mean it. Any boy would be lucky to even be seen talking to you. I feel that way every day; you are truly beautiful. You make me laugh, you're incredibly smart, you're kind, and sweet and the best friend anyone could ask for." He paused as a thought struck him; had her face moved closer to his? Of course not; she didn't see him that way. But as he continued, he moved closer to her, "Rose, you are perfect." He said, his voice lower now.

He could feel air on his face, yet he knew this clearing was too well protected by the incredibly tall trees for it to be wind reaching them where they sat. No, she was definitely close to him now. He could see into her eyes, could see the confusion there.

"Scorpius…" Rose started to say as he moved ever closer, their lips only a hairs width apart.

Suddenly, Rose gasped and jumped up to a standing position. Scorpius felt his heart sink; he had ruined it. Their friendship would never be the same again, not after that. She would never speak to him now, not now she knew how he felt. He'd freaked her out.

But the thought only lasted a second before he heard it himself; a low rumbling sound which was getting louder as the source got closer. He recognised it, but couldn't place what it was, not until the trees surrounding them began to shake.

"Run!" He yelled, and then grabbed Rose's hand and dragged her away through the trees as the first centaur broke into their clearing.


	6. Chapter 6

Scorpius made certain to tightly grip Rose's hand as they crashed through the forest. He knew the forest well, having secretly come here many times since starting at Hogwarts. But Rose had never been here before, and whilst he knew he would be much faster to run alone, Rose would not, and he couldn't risk losing her in here. The herd was dangerous; the centaurs were far less hostile than Scorpius knew they used to be, the Second Wizarding War changed everything in the Wizarding world, even them. Yet still they were territorial, and did not like seeing people in 'their' forest, especially not students who they knew were not meant to be there.

He could hear Rose's breathing behind him; loud, fast and panicky, and a wash of guilt flooded over him.

His father was right. Five years he had known Rose, and she had never broken a single rule. Yet here she was, in one of her most important school years, and Scorpius was dragging her into the Forbidden Forest for his own selfish need. He'd been bored, and the thought of being alone with her, totally alone, had excited him.

'_Well that worked out just wonderfully, didn't it Scorpius?' _His mind snapped at him. _'Not only is she going to hate you for this, but you've managed to terrify her. You're a real catch, aren't you?'_

Scorpius wanted to yell at his mind to shut up, but realised that would just make Rose think even worse of him; at the moment she was relying on him to safely get her out of this forest, and who could rely on someone who yelled obscenities at the voice in their head?

He felt her stumble, and she gripped him tighter to stop herself from falling. She quickly recovered her balance though, and they continued to run. He listened carefully, and realised that over the top of their loud breathing, he couldn't hear the crashing of the centaur herd galloping through the forest anymore. They were far enough away now.

"Why are we slowing down?" Rose gasped.

Scorpius turned back to glance at her, and the look on her face gave him a twinge in his stomach. She looked so scared, and yet still so trusting. She trusted him, after he got her into this mess. "Listen," He said softly, yet he couldn't keep the guilt out of his voice. Rose seemed too bewildered to notice, and instead she just looked up toward what would be the sky, if the trees weren't so tall and hiding it, and he knew she was struggling to hear what he was talking about. "Nothing, right?" He said, and she nodded, "I figure we are far enough away from them if we can't hear them; they were pretty loud back there."

"Yeah." She nodded, and glanced around at her surroundings. Everything looked the same to her; all of the trees looked the same, and the leaves on the ground had fallen in the same piles all over the ground. She wondered how he knew where he was going; she trusted that he did, but she was curious. "Scor, how do you know where you're going?" She asked, and he glanced at her through a gap in his long blonde fringe. His head was bowed, and he looked miserable. Rose felt her stomach clench; was he miserable because of her? She had thought they were going to kiss, back before the centaurs came; did he think the same thing, and now was he regretting it?

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind; they had a problem to deal with right now, and she would think about it later.

"I've been here quite a few times, Rose." He shrugged, "I've learnt the way pretty well. Plus, we weren't that far in. If you know where to look, you can see the Astronomy Tower through the trees. Here, look." He said, ushering her over to where he stood. He held up his arm, his index finger stretching out to a point, "Right there, very faint, you can just make it out."

Rose concentrated, following his finger to where he pointed, but all she could see was the trees ahead of her. She shook her head, and then closed one eye to focus her vision better. It was no use though; she could still only see trees. "I don't see it," She shrugged, and then smirked as she added "but I'll trust you."

She frowned when he didn't return her smile, and the strange feeling in her stomach intensified, even more so when he spoke.

"Sometimes I wish you wouldn't, Rose." He said solemnly, and then began walking in the direction he had just pointed.

Rose narrowed her eyes at him as he stepped away from her. What was that supposed to mean? Did he think she was clingy, simply because she trusted him? They were friends, and had been for a long time… was it not normal to trust your friends?

She shook her head and resolved to forget it, and followed in his path through the forest. They couldn't have travelled more than a few feet before she could see the forest thinning out, and she knew they were finally finding their way out. Scorpius paused, and held out his arm to stop Rose in her tracks. She did as she was commanded, and watched, confused, as he stepped cautiously forward to the area where the trees were thinnest, before straightening up and beckoning her forward.

She raised her eyebrows at him and he shrugged, "Checking the coast was clear." He said and she nodded, understanding. They started forward; the class that had been round the back of Hagrid's hut must have ended, as they couldn't hear his booming voice or the chatter of a thirty plus class of students. She began to relax, and as she watched him, she could see that Scorpius was too. She noticed his shoulders relax, and he began to swing his arms loosely.

'_We made it.' _Scorpius thought, and a small smile began to pull at his lips before he beat it away. He couldn't feel good about it; they had made it without getting caught, luckily, but he could have gotten Rose seriously hurt in there. _'How could you be such a raving idiot?' _He demanded of himself. But the thought was fleeting, because suddenly the door to Hagrid's hut was opening, and the half-giant was appearing in the now open doorway. From where they were standing, it would be obvious where they had just come from.

Panic coursed through Scorpius as Hagrid eyed them with confusion, and slight suspicion. "Rose, Scorpiu'." He said, stepping down from the doorway to the grass, and approaching them. "Where 'ave you two bin? Not gettin' int' trouble I 'ope."

Scorpius didn't know what to say. He was lost for words. How could he be so stupid? Of course they were going to get caught; now they would get detention, or worse. Rose would never speak to him again; he'd ruined her life all because he was bored.

"Of course not, Hagrid." Rose piped up from behind him, and he spun to look at her. She had plastered her sweetest smile on her face, and when Scorpius turned back to Hagrid, he saw the suspicion vanish from his face. "We were just coming to see you!"

Hagrid smiled back; it was near impossible to resist her smile. It was so bright, and infectious. "Oh, well you better come in then. I only jus' finished a class so I need to clear up outside but I'll make some tea, an' you can make yourself at 'ome." He said, before turning back into his hut.

Scorpius gave Rose a bewildered look; he'd thought she'd be in a state of shock, after their near miss with the centaurs, but she just giggled at him as she walked up to the steps to Hagrid's hut. She paused when she was level with him, and leaned down to his ear to whisper, "It's sort of exciting, isn't it, breaking the rules?"

His bewildered look only intensified as she spoke, but it broke as he smirked back at her. "Did you seriously just say that, Rosie Weasley?"

She just stuck her tongue out at him in response, and then stepped into Hagrid's hut.

The rest of the week passed with little more excitement. Rose was back to her usual self, having completed and handed in her Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology essays. As Saturday approached she began to get excited; this weekend the Hogsmeade trips were beginning again, and her Mom and Dad were meeting them in the village. It had been almost two whole months she had seen them, and her Mom was missing her and Hugo greatly; she had said so in her many letters since Rose had arrived back at Hogwarts. She knew her Dad was missing her too, but not as much, he just wanted to make sure she wasn't getting up to any mischief.

She was sitting on her bed, waiting for Tegan to finish getting ready so that they could go down to breakfast. The other girls had gone early, wanting to be in the first group to set off for Hogsmeade, but her parents weren't meeting Rose until noon, and so she wasn't in a rush.

Finally, Tegan pulled a brush through her hair and then turned to Rose, "Ready?"

"I have been for the last thirty minutes!" Rose laughed, pulling on her cardigan and then grabbing her robes and her bag. She wouldn't return to Gryffindor Tower before leaving for the village. Tegan smirked as she picked up her own stuff off of her bed, and then headed to the door of the dormitory, holding it open for Rose to step out first.

When they made it down to the Great Hall for breakfast, it was quieter than usual, but this didn't surprise her. Most of the school, third year and above, were visiting Hogsmeade today, and having not set foot outside of the castle grounds since September 1st, most students couldn't wait to set off.

"Breakfast always looks so much tastier knowing I don't have classes to go to!" Tegan said, making Rose giggle as she reached over for bacon, sausages, fried eggs, baked beans and toast. She hesitated over a bowl of mushrooms, before making a decision, grabbing the spoon and adding some to her plate, and then finally completing the meal with a grilled tomato. Rose watched, amazed, as her friends pile of food got bigger and bigger, but she had no doubt the plate would be empty before Tegan left the table. Rose had always known that Tegan had a huge appetite.

She shook her head, smirking, as Tegan began enthusiastically digging into her mountain of breakfast, and then added a much smaller helping of bacon, sausages, baked beans, toast and a fried egg to her own plate.

When breakfast was finished and the girls were headed across the castle grounds to the pathway to Hogsmeade village, Rose asked, "So what are you going to do today?"

Tegan didn't respond immediately, and Rose turned to glance at her, raising her eyebrow. She looked like she didn't want to speak, and she clamped her lip into a hard line. Rose didn't ask again, even though her curiosity was growing, because she knew Tegan would tell her. She never was good with secrets. "Oh...nothing exciting really. Y'know, probably go to Honeydukes, and then grab some tea."

"Tea?" Rose asked, "At Madame Puddifoot's?"

Tegan peaked at her through her thick fringe, which was falling over her face, but she couldn't hide the pink tint that was forming on her cheeks. "I didn't want to tell you guys yet… It's only early stages. I mean, this is the first stage really so…"

"Tegan Roberts, do you have a date?" Rose asked, and Tegan nodded shyly. Rose gasped, "Who with?"

She giggled, lifting her head up to gaze dreamily ahead of her. Rose smiled at her as she began speaking, "Some guy in the year above. We met at Quidditch try-outs. He made the team, got the spot I didn't. I've noticed him in the common room a few times before, but I don't think he's ever noticed me. Until now." She grinned, clapped her hands and jumped up and down. Rose wracked her brain but couldn't think of who had made the Gryffindor team this year; she didn't really pay much attention. "Greg Blane."

"I can't think who he is." Rose shook her head but then smiled, throwing an arm around her friends shoulder. "But go you! I can't believe you have a date! How have you kept it quiet this long?"

"I really didn't want to jinx; he hadn't actually asked me out on a date until the other day. We've been hanging out in the library and stuff since try outs." She smiled.

It was very unexpected, but suddenly Rose felt a pang of jealousy course through her. She and Scorpius had been hanging out in the library, in the Great Hall, in the castle grounds, and even recently in the Forbidden Forest, where, if she wasn't mistaken, he had come close to kissing her. He had never asked her out on a date.

But of course he wouldn't! They were only friends. She shook her head, more vigorously than she meant to, and Tegan audibly gasped. "What? What's wrong with that? Do you think it's too soon." She stopped in her tracks. "It's too soon isn't it? Oh my gosh, I'm going to go back to the castle, Rose. I'll see you later." She turned on her heel, but Rose quickly quieted her thoughts and brought her attention back to the present.

"What?" She asked, "Oh no! Tegan, don't be silly! It's not too soon. Quidditch try outs were last month! I just erm… had a bug in my ear or something."

Tegan relaxed, and continued her monologue of her relationship with Greg. Rose was happy for her, truly, so why did she feel this jealousy? Quickly, she decided it wasn't a path she wanted to go down. If she had feelings for Scorpius, which she wasn't even sure she did, really, then she didn't want to think about them. There was a line she couldn't cross between them; they were best friends, and that was it. Anything other than that was forbidden territory.

The Three Broomsticks was exactly the same; still warm, and crowded, but the atmosphere was always friendly and comfortable. Rose never felt like a trip to Hogsmeade was complete without a visit to the inn for a butterbeer, and luckily this is where her parents had arranged to meet her.

When she entered the pub at just before twelve, she immediately spotted her parents sat at a table with Hugo, waiting for her. She paused and smiled to herself; she was hoping to have beaten them here for once, but deep down she knew it was impossible. Her mother was never late, and rarely just on time for something; she was almost always early.

They stood up when they noticed her, and Rose took a step forward. Before she knew it though, she was being enveloped in a hug, and she could see nothing but brown curly hair. She smiled, and hugged her mother back just as fiercely.

"Rose! How are you?" Her Mum asked, taking a step back. She placed a hand on both of Rose's arms and surveyed her.

"Hi Mom." Rose replied, becoming slightly nervous under the scrutiny. "I'm fine. How are you?"

Her Mum gripped her arm now, "Oh sweetie I'm fine, better for seeing you and your brother!" She smiled, pulling her over to the table where her Dad stood to greet her with a hug.

"Hey Rosie." Her Dad smiled at her, before stepping past her to go to the bar.

She settled herself down into one of the wooden stools around the crooked table that they had claimed towards the back of the pub. Her Mum was talking animatedly to Hugo about his Charms class, and Rose took a moment to glance around the Three Broomsticks to see if she recognised anyone. As she suspected, the pub was full of Hogwarts students, many of which she didn't recognise but a few that she did. She smiled and waved at Kerry, who was sat with a bunch of her Ravenclaw friends, her perfectly polished Prefect badge glinting in the shine from the light she was sat under. Kerry made her think of the way her parents told her that her Uncle Percy used to be when he was a Prefect; she took her job very seriously. If she was honest, Rose thought that Kerry just liked the power, and people knowing who she was; she hadn't been the most popular person in school since she started. Rose had only gotten to know her last year herself.

She also saw Scorpius' friends sat in a darkened corner of the pub. Scorpius wasn't with them, she noticed, and she found herself wondering where he was. If she was here, and so was Adam Zabini and the other Slytherins, had Scorpius not come to the village? Or was he alone? With another girl?

Her Dad returned and placed a mug on the table in front of her, distracting her from her thoughts. She gasped as she realised where her thoughts were headed, and she felt that jealousy erupt inside her again at the thought of Scorpius being with another girl. Hogsmeade used to be there thing, except on those weekends that she met up with her parents, and those times he would hang out with the Slytherins.

"Thanks Dad," She mumbled, before taking a drink of the butterbeer in front of her to give her time to regain herself. He sat down opposite her, and took a gulp of his own drink. It didn't have the layer of cream on top like the other three, so she guessed it was firewhiskey. "What's in the bag?" She asked, glancing at the bag by his feet, trying to get the conversation as far away from anything that could make her think of Scorpius or the new feelings she was experiencing at the thought of him as possible.

"Oh!" Her Mum gasped, and tapped her Dad on the arm until he reached down and passed her the bag with a sigh and an eye roll. "These are some things off your grandparents!" She smiled. Riffling through the bag, she pulled out two chunky packages wrapped in brown paper. "Do you want to give them these, darling, since they are off your Mum and Dad?"

Ron glanced at her, and then shrugged. "It's okay, Hermione, you've already got hold of them."

She glared at him momentarily, and Rose knew that her Dad was going to be in trouble later for being 'unenthusiastic in front of the children'; she glanced at Hugo and they shared a smirk. Their Dad was always getting in trouble for that.

"Okay fine," She said, plastering a smile back on her face, "These are off your Nan and Grandad Weasley."

Rose took the package off of her mother, and immediately knew what it was. She feigned surprise when she opened it though and found, as suspected, a knitted jumper with a large letter 'R' in the middle. As she was admiring the jumper, her mother produced two more packages that she passed across the table to herself and Hugo. "And these are off your Gran and Grandpa Granger!"

After opening the package to find a selection of muggle sweets that she loved, conversation turned back to school. Her Mum asked them an array of questions, in between each making we 'stick in because, Rose, this is a very important school year. And Hugo, you still need to pass, and the harder you work now, the easier it will be when you're doing _your _O.W.L.'s.' Her Dad just kept enquiring about the Quidditch, and since Rose didn't really follow the school Quidditch teams, she let Hugo lead that conversation.

Time slipped by quickly, and before long they were standing up from the table. After a goodbye outside, a hug and a final 'keep up the hard work' message from her Mom, her parents apparated out of the village. She glanced through the spot that they had previously been standing in and saw Tegan stepping out of the teashop, hand in hand with Greg. She grinned at her and sent her thumbs up, to which Tegan responded with a small wave.

Just as she was about to turn to leave something caught her eye through the window of Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop.

'_So that's where Scorpius has been today.' _She thought, and her heart sank.


	7. Chapter 7

"Class!" The voice of Professor Slughorn yelled over the voices of the Slytherin and Gryffindor class. "Class, settle down!" He spoke in his naturally friendly voice, but the tone of authority in it could not be missed. The class quickly settled down into their seats as Rose watched from the back of the classroom, before following suit and taking her seat at the long wooden bench beside Tegan.

Once she had laid out her parchment, quill and textbook, Rose looked to the front of the room, waiting for Slughorn to expand further. "Okay, now I've been easing you into your O.W.L. level potions with some simple ones since we started back in September, but now it's time to start on the big stuff." He smiled at them, and Rose felt a sudden twinge of excitement. It was the first positive emotion she'd felt, she quickly realised, since saying goodbye to her parents in Hogsmeade on Saturday. "So if you will all please turn to page three hundred and two in your books, we will begin!"

Rose stayed in her seat, examining the page of her textbook and reading the instructions for a lot longer than was necessary. The rest of the class was already on their feet and heading to the store cupboards to grab ingredients before she even decided to climb off of her stool.

"Hey." A voice came from behind her, and she momentarily froze, unsure what to do. It hit her that she had been dreading this moment, dreading seeing him or speaking to him since seeing him on a date with that girl. So was this it? Was she finally admitting that she had feelings for Scorpius?

She turned slowly to face him, plastering on a smile as she did so. "Hi."

"How was seeing your parents?" He asked, and then added, with a lopsided grin, "How many insults did your Dad throw in about me and our friendship and how I'm corrupting you?"

Rose couldn't help a laugh at that. "None actually." She said, and an idea struck her. "Maybe it was because you weren't in his close vicinity. Out of sight, out of mind, so they say. So where were you then, if not in the Three Broomsticks?" She wasn't sure why, but she half expected him to lie, and yet his answer was quick as if he hadn't thought about it at all, confirming where she had seen him. "Madam Puddifoot's?" She repeated, feigning surprise, "Were you on a date?"

Scorpius glanced at her and chuckled lightly, "No." He scoffed, "But Rhea, the girl on the Quidditch team I told you about before? Yeah, her friends decided not to go to Hogsmeade this weekend, and she really needed to get out of the castle for a while," He spoke as he grabbed ingredients out of the cupboard, and passed them to Rose who was stood a little further back away from the throng of students, although they were begin to disperse back to their seats, having headed for the store cupboard before the two of them. "I don't know what it is with her though, but she seems to really not like being stuck in one place. Kind of awkward to have to come to Hogwarts when you hate being cooped up but," He shrugged, "She also doesn't like the Three Broomsticks. Doesn't like how cramped it is, apparently." He laughed, noticing Rose's dubious expression. "I'm making her sound awful, but she's just… different. I think you'd like her, Rosie."

"I can't see me liking anyone who doesn't appreciate the art of a good butterbeer at the bar and a chat with Madame Rosmerta." Rose shook her head as Scorpius passed her a finally ingredient and then stepped back from t cupboard. He came closer, and unburdened Rose of half of the stuff she held cradled in her arms, and then headed back to her desk with her.

Scorpius snorted, "Well, maybe you can change her mind." He smiled at her, and Rose found herself starting into his bright blue eyes longer than necessary, or appropriate. She caught herself staring, and jumped, gasping as she came out of her trance. Scorpius narrowed his eyebrows at her, "Are you okay?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah I'm fine, why wouldn't I?" She said, but her voice sound flustered, and it spread to her hands as she reached for the bottle of salamander blood in front of her, and knocked it over. Scorpius grabbed it quickly, straightening it on the desk, but luckily the bottle top was still firmly in place and none had spilt. "Oh, sorry."

"No worries." Scorpius said, narrowing his eyes again, "Here, let me."

He swiftly measured out the salamander blood and poured the right amount into Rose's cauldron, and continued with the rest of the ingredients, measuring them out equally, so that he also had enough left to take back to his own cauldron.

When he was finished, he picked up the bottles and turned to gaze at Rose, a smirk playing on his lips. "There," He said, "Now, do you reckon you can make this potion without any further disasters?" He joked, and Rose glared at him, to which he responded with a chuckle. "Just keep an eye on her, okay?" He said to Tegan, before taking himself and his ingredients off to his own desk with his Slytherin classmates.

Rose exhaled deeply, and glanced at Tegan. Suddenly, the noise of the classroom came back into focus to her; it was as if she and Scorpius had been in their own world just moments ago, and no one else was around. But now everything came back into focus, and the babble of the classroom, the clattering as students stirred their potions in the cauldrons, and the sighing as people got things wrong was unmissable.

"Miss Weasley, you've barely even started!" Professor Slughorn's voice suddenly boomed beside her and she jumped. "Your potion needs to be boiling within the next ten minutes or it won't be ready by the end of class and I'll be forced to give you a detention to redo it. This is so unlike you." He said, sounding disappointed, and shook his head, "Get a move on! I'm not fond of giving out detentions, Rose, especially not to students such as yourself. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it."

"Yes, Sir." Rose mumbled, "Sorry."

The dull weather was a welcome blessing to the students crammed in the Herbology greenhouses that afternoon; Rose enjoyed Herbology, but found it unbearable during the summer, or even only in the good weather, because of the heat in the glass classroom. But today the temperature was cool, and comfortable.

"Has everyone handed me their essays from last week?" Professor Longbottom's voice came across the babble of students. "Yes?" He paused, waiting for a reply. When he didn't get one, he put the pile of parchment he was holding down, clearly taking the non-response as an answer.

"I hope you all had a good weekend… Albus!" He said sternly, and Rose glanced over to see her cousin chatting to his friend George. "Stop talking now, please. Okay, so this week we are going to do things a little bit different. There won't be any work in the greenhouses, so no practical work, but you're going to do a research project on Fanged Geraniums. That includes information on how to grow them, where they grow, history, and any extra information that can earn you house points." He paused, allowing the students to finish writing down his last words. "We will be doing some practical work with them next week, but this research project is the big bulk of it. Since there's so much work, and only a week to do it, you can work in pairs. So you have five minutes to find a partner, and then you can go to the library, or use my selection of books in here, or your own. Wherever you want to start, but the whole project is to be finished and handed in by the end of this lesson next week." As he came to the end of his sentence, the chattering began, as everyone worked out who they were going to partner with. Tegan looked at Rose and smiled, and Rose nodded in response. "Off you go!"

Rose gathered up her book, parchment and quill and placed them all back into her bag. Tegan appeared at her side almost immediately; as she hadn't bothered to immediately unpack her stuff like Rose always did.

"So where do you want to start?"

Rose stood up from her seat, "Well, I guess the library is probably our best bet."

As they left the greenhouses and headed back into the castle, Rose wasn't surprised to see that not many of her classmates were heading in the direction of the library. She saw the majority of the Gryffindor's walking the route to Gryffindor tower, and the Ravenclaw's, who they shared the class with, heading in the direction that she knew to be the way towards their common room.

The library was quiet, as it always was, but with fewer people than usual. Harriet, Carly and Kaya had decided to stay in the greenhouses; they wouldn't admit it, but Rose had a suspicion that they had a crush on Professor Longbottom. They had always shown much more interest in his class than any other that she could think of. She supposed that Neville wasn't bad looking, but he was such a close family friend that she sort of thought him as extended family, maybe a second cousin's, twice removed, uncle or something… very distant family. Anyway, he had always been round for a dinner quite often whilst she was growing up, so it hard to think of him in the context of just her Herbology professor.

After collecting some books, they settled at a table, spreading parchment out in front of them around the many different Herbology volumes.

"So," Tegan started, and Rose glanced up questioningly. "How is Scorpius?"

Rose raised her eyebrows, "Good, as far as I know… I don't know, didn't see him over the weekend."

"Yeah, I saw him in Madam Puddifoot's with some Slytherin girl. They looked like they were having fun…" She trailed off, and Rose did not fail to notice the question in her words. Tegan wanted gossip, as she always did, but Rose wasn't really sure if there was anything to tell, which in itself worried her. There was never any gossip to tell about her and Scorpius; her friends had questioned her countless times on their relationships, and the answer had always been simple. They were friends. Was that all it was now?

"Oh yes, how was your date with Greg?" Rose asked, in an attempt to change the direction of the conversation. She looked her friend straight in the eye, feigning nonchalance about the question.

Tegan, for once, could not be distracted. She simply shrugged, although a small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth that Rose just how good the date was. Her reply was simple though, "Good. Who is the girl Scorpius was with?"

Rose sighed, and shrugged, "Someone on the Quidditch team with him."

"She's pretty."

"I haven't seen her."

Tegan pursed her lips, obviously thinking hard about what her next question was going to be. Rose had to resist the urge to grit her teeth, and instead flipped through the book in front of her, searching for any information on Fanged Geraniums for their project.

They fell silent for a while, as they both looked through books and scribbled down notes. After writing nearly a page of notes, Tegan put down her quill, clearly unable to keep quiet any longer. "He likes you, you know that, right?"

Rose's hand froze mid-sentence, but she quickly collected herself and finished her sentence. "Well I should hope so, Tegan, he is my best friend."

"Don't be dense, Rose." Tegan snapped, rolling her eyes. "I mean he likes you… likes you."

"I don't think so." She replied, placing her on quill down on the desk, crossing her arms in front of her and staring at her friend. "You said yourself you saw him in Madam Puddifoot's with that Slytherin girl… Only couples go to Madam Puddifoot's."

Tegan shrugged, "That doesn't mean he doesn't like you. He's always liked you, Rose, that has been obvious to us for so long. But you've never showed a romantic interest in him before, maybe he got sick of fighting a losing battle." She shrugged, "But I don't think he's losing anymore."

Rose pursed her lips and sighed, but butterflies flew up in her stomach, and not the good kind. No, these were the ones that told her she was nervous and uncomfortable about this conversation. She didn't want to be having it; there had to be a reason she felt that way. She should just admit it.

But she didn't want to admit it; admitting that she feelings for Scorpius would change everything.

"I guess not, he seems to really like that girl."

Tegan sighed loudly, and Rose felt like sinking low into her chair. She wasn't fooling anyone here. "I meant with you. I saw how you reacted with him in Potions this morning, Rose. You were nervous, and blushing. It wasn't like you. I haven't seen you like that since the Triwizard Tournament in second year, when that Durmstrang student smiled at you." Her tone softened when she spoke again, "Do you like him, Rose?"

"I told you…" Rose didn't believe herself when she spoke, there was so little conviction in her voice, and she knew that Tegan wouldn't believe her either. "He's my best friend."

"That's not an answer." She said, and then glanced at her watch, "Saved by the bell, lucky you. I have to get to History of Magic." She closed the book she had been looking through, and tidied up her stuff, putting it back into her bag. Sorting the books into a pile, she pushed them across the table towards Rose, who had a free period next. After standing up and pushing her chair under the desk, she pointed a finger accusingly at Rose and narrowed her eyes, "This isn't over, Weasley! Adios." Suddenly she smirked, and Rose narrowed her own eyes. "Hi Scorpius!"

Rose's eyes widened as Tegan continued to smirk at him, and then winked at Rose, before turning on her heel and heading towards the door.

Scorpius slumped in the seat that she had just vacated, dropping his bag on the floor with a thump. "So she seemed stranger than normal." He commented, "She actually smiled at me."

"She had coffee with her breakfast," Rose shrugged, "It does that to her."

He raised his eyebrows, and relaxed back into the chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him, below the desk, kicking Rose's own legs at the same time. "Well she better stop it, it's freaking me out."

"Shush!" Madam Pince snapped as she appeared, seemingly from nowhere, right beside the desk. When she turned away, Scorpius pulled a face, and Rose giggled, resulting in her turning back sharply to glare at the two of them.

They held straight faces as she narrowed her eyes at them, before finally turning and gliding down between two aisles. They heard her shushing some more students elsewhere in the library, and they glanced at each other and smirked again.

This is what they were best at, Rose suddenly realised; being friends. Anything else would surely be ludicrous.


	8. Chapter 8

Scorpius stretched out on his bed in the fifth year Slytherin dormitory. He had been enjoying the quiet; he didn't get much, the other boys in his dormitory were only quiet if they were asleep. Some of his school books were stretched out in front of him; he had an Astronomy essay due in the next day that he hadn't even started yet, and Rose had seemed far too busy lately to help him. He wasn't sure why she was so busy; she did the same classes as him and he wasn't under any more pressure than usual.

As he suspected, the silence didn't last long. The door to the dormitory burst open, and Adam walked in, dropping his bag on the bed, and then himself, loudly.

Scorpius raised his eyebrow over the textbook he was resting on top of his bent knees. "What's up man?" He asked, turning down the page of his book and putting it beside him on the bed.

"Just tired, man." Adam replied, "Guess they weren't kidding when they said this year was going to be harder. I struggled every year, but I barely even have time to speak to girls anymore."

Scorpius laughed, "I'm sure you'll make time. And if you can't, then I'm sure you'll steal a time turner from somewhere!"

Adam threw his head back and laughed, leaning up on his elbows, "Good one man. Never thought of that. What are you doing, anyway? Something I should be doing?"

Sitting up, Scorpius glanced down at the books and parchment on his bed, making the decision that he had had enough of work for now. He started to collect them up into a neat pile, ready to put them in the cupboard beside his bed. The boys always made fun of him for his tidiness; all of their stuff was just flung here, there and everywhere across the dormitory.

"Astronomy essay, due tomorrow."

"Great, but I reckon I can wing it." He relaxed back against the mattress, closing his eyes. Scorpius smirked, before standing up and grabbing his robe.

"Have a nice nap, Grandpa, I'm off to my class." He was treated to a wave from his friend before he left the dormitory.

Rose sat in the library with all of her books spread out around her. She'd been here during all of her spare time this week, trying to catch up on work. She couldn't remember ever been this behind and she was swamped. Her mother would be disappointed.

She leant back in her seat, breathing a sigh of relief as she placed the final full stop on her Charms essay. The essay had been on the uses of silencing charms, including positives and negatives of using the charm. They had also had to practice the spell, which they had been introduced to in their last class. Rose had learnt a negative of the spell pretty quickly when she'd allowed Scorpius to practice on her that night; he hadn't learnt the reverse spell, and she had been silenced and couldn't tell him.

He'd found it hilarious, of course, but Rose hadn't. She smirked at the memory now, but at the time she had been furious. He wouldn't come with her to see Professor Flitwick either, wanting to torture her for as long as possible, so she had had to go alone, and write a message on parchment explaining to him what happened so he could undo the spell. She was still slightly embarrassed thinking about it, but she couldn't deny that it had been funny.

"What are you smiling at?" A voice pulled her from her thoughts and she glanced up at Scorpius.

She shook her head, "Nothing. How was Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

He shrugged, lounging back in his chair as if it was an arm chair. These chairs were really uncomfortable, but Scorpius could relax in them in a way that looked like he was ready to sleep; she didn't know how he did it. "Decent. Now I'm bored, fancy a walk?"

"Where to?" She raised her eyebrows, thinking back to their last walk that ended with them running from a herd of centaurs. It had scared her, but thinking back, the adrenaline rush had been amazing. She had enjoyed herself.

He smirked, "I thought you liked my surprises." He joked, but then his face suddenly turned serious. "Somewhere safe this time; we were lucky before. If the centaurs had gotten us we'd have been killed, and if anyone else had, we'd had been expelled."

"But we weren't caught, were we?" Rose smiled, "And I _do _like your surprises! Help me pack up my books and we'll go!"

Scorpius gave her an unsure look, but then was swept up in her excitement and quickly helped her pack up her books and put them back on the shelves. When all of her stuff was packed away in her bag, Scorpius hoisted it on to his shoulder and stepped back for Rose to step past him out of the library. She smiled and thanked him, although felt slightly embarrassed to let him carry her bag, but he just grinned back.

Their free periods gave them the perfect opportunity to sneak across the grounds towards the forest, because the majority of the castles inhabitants were in class. Rose couldn't help feeling nervous though, but she found that the more nervous she got, the more excited she felt too. It was new to her, the adrenaline rush, but she found that she liked it.

She knew it was wrong, but a part of her didn't really care.

When they reached the clearing, she cast a charm to check for any things lingering nearby. It didn't set off any alarms, and Scorpius visibly relaxed when she said it; Rose presumed he was still freaked over the centaurs. She grinned at him, then made to sit down on the ground against a tree.

"Wait," Scorpius said, and she glanced at him, confused. He undid the button on his robes and laid them on the ground like a blanket. He waved his arms towards it, as if presenting it to her like a gift, and said, "My lady."

Rose giggled, and he grinned suddenly, causing her to flush. He had a lovely smile, she'd always thought that. She'd always wondered why he'd never had many girlfriends, but the only time he had ever dated was whenever Rose herself had, which wasn't often. She'd dated two boys; a Ravenclaw, Tom, in her first year for little more than two weeks, and a Hufflepuff in third year, Hilton, which hadn't fared much better. Scorpius had never been short of offers though, he'd just never seemed interested.

She took a seat on his make shift blanket, leaning against a tree trunk, and he sat opposite her, his legs outstretched and his hands flat on the ground behind his back, supporting the weight of his torso.

"I feel like I'm leading you astray." Scorpius confessed, after a few moments of comfortable silence.

Rose, who had been resting her head against the tree with her eyes closed, open them and gazed at him before laughing, "Leading me astray? I'm a big girl; I know what I'm doing. Besides, it's not like we are wreaking havoc in the castle like James does, or a lot of other people, we are just minding our own business." She shrugged, "And I'm almost all caught up on my work. So it's all good, don't worry, Scor."

He looked at her for a long moment; it seemed like forever, and Rose began to squirm, embarrassed, under his gaze. She let out a breath, and glancing away from him. She was confused by her feelings; why was she feeling this way with him? She couldn't accept that Tegan was right, and that she really did have romantic feelings for him. He was her best friend, she couldn't ruin that. And besides; he was a Malfoy and she was a Weasley, he would never look at her that way, and if he did, then there was just some line there that their parents would never let them cross. Ever. It was simply impossible.

"Fine, but you're going to have to just deal with the guilt of knowing you're obviously leading _me_ astray, Rosie Weasley."

His voice snapped her from her thoughts and she giggled, gaining herself one of his little smiles that Rose knew made all the girls sigh wistfully. "I can live with that."

He grinned, and then broke into a monologue about Quidditch. He told her about the last few weeks training, about how good Rhea was becoming, and he didn't think anyone would threaten her out on the pitch. Rose felt a twinge of jealousy to hear him talk such a way about her, but tried to bat it away as he swiftly moved on, telling her about the match that was coming up, against Ravenclaw. She smiled at all the right places, and nodded, or made passing comments, and eventually became uncomfortable against the tree trunk. As she shifted to lie down on his robe instead, he shifted to, and she was surprised when she laid down her head and found it in his lap. He didn't move again though, and she considered whether that was his intention, or whether it was just coincidence. She didn't question him, just relaxed and looked up at him as he continued to speak.

Scorpius glanced down at her and smiled; she had her eyes shut, just listening to him speak, but she looked beautiful. Absentmindedly, he began running his fingers through her hair, and she opened her eyes, looking confused. He flushed, quickly stopping, "Sorry." He mumbled.

"It's okay." She said, still giving him a strange look, before sitting up.

He cursed himself; idiot! _'She's your best friend, you can't just do things like that!' _

"What time is it?"

Scorpius sighed under his breath at his stupidity; he'd ruined the moment, again. He glanced at his watch in answer to her question, "Almost dinner, we should get going before the classes get out and we get caught." He stood up, and held out his hand to pull her up with him. Then he bent down and picked up both of their bags and his robes off of the ground, shaking them out as he did to get rid of the leaves and dirt that had stuck to them due to the pressure of their bodies pushing into the debris on the ground.

He led the way, and she followed behind him, her footsteps sounding more natural and comfortable against the forest floor this time since they weren't running for their lives. The walk was pleasant, although neither of them said much, but the quiet was comfortable.

When they reached the forest edge, Scorpius gestured for Rose to wait a few paces back, as he continued forward silently to check if the coast was clear. It was, so he gestured for Rose to come forward, and they broke out of the forest together, running across the ground towards the castle. They slowed to a walk as they neared the entrance hall, as there was a few students here, giving them odd looks as they giggled together.

Students were beginning to flood down the staircases and into the Great Hall when they got inside the castle, and they joined the crowd.

"See you later, bad influence." Scorpius winked, and Rose smirked.

"Later." She laughed, and headed off in the direction of the Gryffindor table where a few of the girls were already waiting.

Gryffindor has Astronomy after dinner, and once all of the plates had been taken away, Rose and the rest of the fifth years pushed up from their seats and began to head out of the Great Hall.

"I so can't be bothered with this class." Carly groaned, and all the girls mumbled their agreement, except for Rose, who was looking forward to Astronomy even more now knowing that Teddy taught it. She enjoyed his classes, and secretly thought that everyone else did too but they were embarrassed to admit that they enjoyed _Astronomy!_

"How did you guys find the essay?" Harriet asked, and Rose stopped dead in her tracks staring at her. "I thought it was quite easy, really."

Kaya and Tegan agreed. "I didn't find it so bad," Tegan said, and then noticed Rose wasn't beside her anymore, "You okay, Rose?"

Rose stared at her, and then nodded, catching them up. "Sorry, yes, fine." She said, distantly.

The essay! She thought, gobsmacked. She'd forgotten to finish the essay!

Panic flooded through her; she'd have to admit she'd been going to the Forbidden Forest instead of working, her parents were going to kill her, she'd get detention and Gryffindor would lose house points. How could she be so stupid?!

But of course, she breathed a sigh of relief, Teddy was their Professor now. He would let her off this once… he had to, he was family!


End file.
